Only a month after opening its first central Ohio Nordstrom Rack at Easton Market, Seattle-based
retailer Nordstrom announced plans to open a second off-price store in central Ohio.

The next Nordstrom Rack will open in the spring in a 37,890-square-foot space formerly occupied
by Filene’s Basement in the Sun Center at Rt. 161 and Sawmill Road.

Nordstrom opened the first Nordstrom Rack on Sept. 12. The Easton Market location drew hundreds
of people on opening day and has continued to have strong traffic.

“We have been encouraged by customer response at Easton Market,” spokeswoman Kate DeToye said. “
So we’ve been looking to grow our Rack presence in the area.”

Even so, opening a second store this quickly in Columbus was surprising — particularly in that
location, said retail analyst Chris Boring, principal at Boulevard Strategies. “I thought it would
be at Polaris.”

Still, the new location is appealing for several reasons. Not only is it on a different side of
town from the first Rack, but “it is in the center of the best demographics in central Ohio,”
Boring said. “They can draw from the entire Dublin market, Worthington and northwest Columbus.”

Nordstrom officials agreed that the location’s accessibility to customers was a key factor in
their decision.

“With that location, they might frequent the store several times a week,” DeToye said.

With virtually no growth in malls, Nordstrom has been using the Rack stores to bolster sales,
and it has plans to open 15 Racks a year across the country, Boring said.